Fire kills 21 in India refugee camp

[News_Editor]

Fire kills 21 in India refugee camp

2011-03-20 01:52:49 GMT+7 (ICT)

TRIPURA, INDIA (BNO NEWS) -- At least 21 people died on Saturday when a fire broke out at a refugee camp in India's northeast Tripura district, the Hindustan Times newspaper reported.

Around 11.15am, the flames completely gutted the Naishingpara camp, one of six in the Kanchanpur area, killing 16 refugees on the spot and injuring nearly 100. The injured have been admitted in five different hospitals in the district, while those critically injured were sent to the state capital Agartala, some 165km (102 miles) north, by helicopter.

Deputy inspector general of police Nepal Das said the casualties include men, women and children. He could not say immediately the exact cause behind the inferno that destroyed about one thousand huts.

Fire fighting teams could not do much due to shortage of water and equipments. The death toll could be more as search is underway, according to the newspaper.

Naishingpara alone accommodates 14,528 of 34,000 Reang tribal refugees. They left Mizoram state in October 1997 to escape large scale ethnic violence and alleged persecution by the majority Mizos.

After years of efforts, the Mizoram government conceded to arrange return of the evacuees last December, but the repatriation has been extremely slow as Mizoram authorities despite objections are carrying out complicated verification process to ascertain citizenship status of the refugee families.

On March 15, 2010, about 1800 people became homeless after fire razed a Reang refugee camp near Naishingpara.

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